Staff profile

Sarah McCay Tams


Postgraduate Research Student

Academic unit

College of Health and Humanities

Department

School of Humanities and Creative Arts

Email

STF8717@derby.ac.uk

About

I am an international journalist and content marketer, with two decades of experience writing for magazines, online titles, newspapers and market-leading brands. My work has taken me all over the world, with many years spent working in the Middle East, as well as Europe and the UK.

Creatively, I write fiction, poetry and plays. My 10-minute play ‘Isolation’ won The Sir Alan Ayckbourn Trophy at the 2022 National Association of Writers Groups Annual Awards. My short story ‘Element’ won first place in the Flash Fiction competition at Stafford Litfest 2022. In 2024, my short story 'Transitory Beauty' was shortlisted for the Henshaw Short Story Prize. In 2025, I have been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Playwriting for my dark comedy, 'Car Crash'. I have had work published in numerous anthologies.

Title of thesis

Sugar Island: Exploring and highlighting the lesser told stories of women in Barbados in the 1650s

Supervisors

Qualifications